Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Dip

Sometimes you just have to put the kids to bed early, and invite a couple of grown-ups over for a night of snacks, games, music, and laughter. Since we live way far outside of town, through the woods, beyond numerous coves, at the end of a peninsula almost in the ocean, and getting a babysitter is costly and never easy, we often opt to stay in, and have a mini party on our own turf. It’s always fun to host a house party!

This summer, I have big plans. I want to project a movie on the side of our old barn. I want to string up lights and have a piñata filled with wax lips. I want a makeshift dance floor where couples sway together under the moon and stars to Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn records. I want to sit beside the fire pit and toast marshmallows. I want to play charades and a silly guessing game called Snaps. I want to serve all my favorite foods and fizzy punch with sherbet in our big vintage punch bowl. I want to play croquet in the dark and catch fireflies like we did when we were kids. I want to laugh with my friends all night. And by “all night” I mean until 10:47, because I turn into a literal pumpkin at 11.

The menu includes all my snacking favorites: good charcuterie, mustard pickles, spring radishes with butter, salt, and baguette, and locally made ricotta cheese. I want the food we serve our friends to be homemade, high quality, and a little unexpected. We’re definitely having a Midsummer party this year. It’s going to be magical.

Let me just say THIS IS THE PERFECT PARTY DIP. It is creamy and yummy with just a little oomph. But I couldn’t stop there. I had a EUREKA moment, a scathingly brilliant idea to craft the most Mediterranean dip ever. I got Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, and beautiful green beans, extra virgin olive oil, and warmed Naan bread for dipping. This is how I built the ultimate summer gathering hors d’oeuvre that everyone will be asking about the next day.

Jillian Bedell is a writer and mother living in a farmhouse in Cushing, Maine. She is very good at talking about herself in the third person. She is co-author of Eating in Maine: At Home, On the Town, and On the Road. She creates content on the internet, on subjects ranging from summer camps to semi-precious stones to the folklore of food. With Malcolm, Jillian was one of the original “Insiders,” for the Visit Maine tourism campaign. She loves telling the stories of her adopted state, finding out-of-the-way places, and people making interesting things. Watching her daughters play in the wild woods and fields of Cushing makes her very happy.